
. 




Class 


Book ' S 4-v 

4 

GopvTi&ht ^N? 

jLl. 


COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 









MELISSA 

ACROSS-TH E-FENCE 


BY 


AUGUSTA HUIELL SEAMAN 

Author of “The Girl Next Door,” “The 
Sapphire Signet,” “The Boarded-Up 
House,” etc. 


ILLUSTRATED BY 
C. M. RELYEA 



NEW YORK 
THE CENTURY CO. 
1918 



Copyright, 1918, by 

The Century Co. 


Copyright, 1917, 1918, by 
The Crowell Publishing Company 


Published. September, 1918 


o r 
Air 


P 30 1918 


©CI.A503633 


A-tO I 




CONTENTS 


I 

The House in the Next Street 

PAGE 

3 

II 

In the Bay-Window .... 

ii 

III 

The Boy in the Big House . 

20 

IV 

With Pencil and Chalk . 

28 

V 

The Friendship Grows . 

38 

VI 

More Talk and a Concert . 

51 

VII 

Bim 

64 

VIII 

Something Happens .... 

75 

IX 

A Resolve and a Compact . 

84 

X 

At the Big House .... 

9 1 

XI 

The Search Melissa Made . 

99 

XII 

When Bim Returned 

112 






) 








LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 


This information seemed to cause 

him much pleasure . . . Frontispiece 

FACING 

PAGE 

“Yes, we have a concert to-night’' . . 60 


Bim comes home 


no 























* 


MELISSA-ACROSS-THE 

FENCE 







f | 



































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































MELISSA-ACROSS-THE- 

FENCE 


CHAPTER I 

THE HOUSE IN THE NEXT STREET 

I T was a very grand house indeed, the 
house in the next street. Melissa 
spent much time staring at it out of the 
back window. Once in a while she would 
walk around to the next street and stare at 
it from the opposite sidewalk, but this was 
less interesting. By far the most enticing 
view of it was from the rear. Therefore 
Melissa was a great deal at her own back 
window. 

As has been said, it was a very grand 
house, a great square brownstone house, 
and stood in a large plot of ground. In 
3 


MELISSA-ACROSS-THE-FENCE 


the front was a spacious porch, several 
bright flower-beds, and two magnolia- 
trees; but in the rear, a lawn ran right 
back to the fence broken only by a narrow 
gravel walk, and with a stone fountain di- 
rectly in the middle. In the spring and 
summer water bubbled up in the fountain- 
basin in jets of flying spray. On a windy 
day it swayed back and forth like a misty 
cloud. In winter the fountain was al- 
ways dry. 

Melissa would sit for hours in the back 
window of her tiny home on Cary Street 
and watch the fountain. She liked also 
to watch the sunlight on the smoothly kept 
lawn and the sparrows and starlings that 
dotted its velvety carpet. But best of all 
was the fountain. In the spring she 
would walk around to Pierpont Street to 
see the magnolia-trees in bloom and the 
bright flower-beds in front of the house, 
but she always returned to look at the 
fountain. That was the main thing. And 
next to the misty, bubbling water, Me- 
4 


THE HOUSE IN THE NEXT STREET 


lissa loved the stone statue of the pretty 
child standing in the middle of it, around 
whose dimpled feet the water played. 

But there was one strange thing about 
the house that puzzled Melissa: Nobody 
ever seemed to live in it. A caretaker 
came at certain stated times all the year 
round. He looked after the grounds and 
the house, evidently keeping both in good 
order. Once in a long while he would 
open all the windows and let in air and 
sunshine for part of a day; then all would 
be shut tight again. 

Melissa wondered and wondered where 
the people who owned it could be and why 
they did n’t come to live in so lovely a 
place. Once she asked her mother, only 
to be told a little indifferently that she (her 
mother) had n’t the least idea, and that 
Melissa must go and play and not ask 
foolish questions. So Melissa did n’t ask 
any more. . * 

But just the same she kept on wonder- 
ing, and also wishing that once in a while 
5 


MELISSA-ACROSS-THE-FENCE 


she might go and play on the pretty green 
lawn and dabble her hands in the foun- 
tain. This, of course, was out of the 
question. A high board fence ran around 
three sides of the grounds, so high that, 
in her own tiny back yard, Melissa 
could n’t even see the big house. On the 
front was an equally high iron railing. 
The only place from which to see the foun- 
tain and lawn was her own back window, 
and with this view Melissa had to be con- 
tent. Then one day a strange thing hap- 
pened. 

It was a hot Saturday morning in May. 
Melissa had brought a couple of books and 
her only doll, rather the worse for wear, 
to her favorite seat by the window. At a 
table near by, her mother, who made baby- 
clothes for a living, was cutting out a tiny 
flannel jacket. The room was their din- 
ing-room, kitchen, and parlor all in one. 
It was a big room, with a pleasant, sunny 
outlook over the lawn. They had only 
one other room in their little home, the one 
6 


THE HOUSE IN THE NEXT STREET 


in front, where they slept. But its win- 
dows looked out only on the hot, noisy 
street, and therefore they spent most of 
their time in the pleasant back room. 

“Look! look, Mother!” cried Melissa, 
suddenly glancing over toward the great 
house. But her mother had her mouth 
full of pins, and had come to the difficult 
task of fastening the pieces of the tiny 
jacket together. She only smiled and 
shook her head, and mumbled something 
through the pins that sounded like, “Don't 
bother me just now, dear!” Therefore 
Melissa gave up trying to interest her, and 
just watched the strange, new events 
across the fence with breathless atten- 
tion. 

In the first place, the caretaker came out 
of the back door, followed by two women 
in scrubbing-aprons and dusting-caps. 
One carried a broom, the other a pail and 
a mop. The caretaker talked excitedly in 
a low voice and did much pointing and 
waving of his arms and giving of direc- 
7 


MELISSA-ACROSS-THE-FENCE 


tions. The women said nothing, but pres- 
ently went to work. 

And all that day the work went on, 
while Melissa watched at her window, 
thrilled with excitement. Never before 
had she seen such window-washing, scrub- 
bing, dusting, and polishing in the grand 
shut-up house as was being accomplished 
that warm May day. Something must 
surely be going to happen. And when, 
before night, lace curtains, very beautiful 
ones, appeared at the windows, and the 
shutters were not shut, but left, as never 
before, open and cheerful, Melissa clapped 
her hands and cried : 

'They ’re coming to live there at last ! 
I know it !” 

“Who?” asked her mother, the jacket 
being now finished and her mind at leisure. 
She was putting the supper on the table. 

“Why, I don’t know,” said Melissa. 
“Whoever owns the big house, I s’pose.” 
Her mother glanced out of the window, in- 
differently. It was plain that the inhabi- 
8 


THE HOUSE IN THE NEXT STREET 


tants of the big house did not greatly in- 
terest her. 

^Well, they probably won’t stay long in 
the city this hot weather,” she remarked. 
“Come to your supper, Melissa.” 

But Melissa had little appetite, and she 
could scarcely sleep that night, so intense 
was her excitement. The great house 
was going to be occupied at last. Perhaps 
there would be children who would run 
about the lawn and play in the fountain. 
Melissa hoped there would be, lots of them ! 
She was a lonely little girl and had really 
no playmates. The children in her own 
street were older than herself and rather 
rough and noisy. Melissa’s mother, who 
was very quiet and gentle, did not like her 
little daughter to be with them. There- 
fore Melissa, when she was not in school, 
spent most of her time in the parlor-din- 
ing-room-kitchen of their tiny home. 

But she dearly loved children, and she 
hoped with all her heart to see at least half 
a dozen of them romping about the foun- 
9 


MELI S S A- ACRO S S-TH E-FEN CE 


tain in the near future. She also hoped 
there would be some rollicking dogs and a 
kitten or two and — 

At this point, however, Melissa at last 
fell asleep and dreamed that a whole 
boarding-school of children had moved 
into the big house and were roving about 
the lawn. They had just beckoned her 
to come and join them when she heard her 
mother calling: 

“Come ! come, Melissa ! Are you never 
going to get up? Breakfast is on the ta- 
ble, and you ’re still abed.” And, as Me- 
lissa crawled sleepily out of bed, she mur- 
mured half to herself : 

“Oh, I wish it were going to be a board- 
ing-school !” 

“Whatever is the child talking about ?” 
exclaimed her mother. 


io 


CHAPTER II 


IN THE BAY-WINDOW 

B UT it was not going to be a boarding- 
school. That fact became very plain 
during the next few days. Neither, ap- 
parently, were there any children, or any 
dogs, or even a kitten. Once in a while 
a neat, black-clad, white-capped, and 
aproned maid stepped out of the back door ; 
sometimes, also, a man in a strange suit 
adorned with many buttons like a uni- 
form. Melissa concluded that they must 
be servants. Figures could be seen pass- 
ing the windows occasionally, but they 
never stopped long enough to be observed 
clearly. 

Melissa was greatly disappointed. 
Where were all the lovely children she had 
hoped to see? There did n’t appear to be 
ii 


MELISSA-ACROSS-THE-FENCE 


even one. And she had watched faith- 
fully every moment of time when she 
was n’t either in school or abed. More 
than that, the people in the big house never 
seemed to come to the windows. Only 
once, in the bay-window directly opposite 
where she was sitting, Melissa caught a 
glimpse of a pretty young woman all in 
white, with a strange white cap on her 
head. This young woman parted the lace 
curtains, glanced all about the lawn and 
up at the clouds (it was pouring rain), 
then shook her head and turned away, 
dropping the curtains behind her. 

During the next two weeks Melissa 
made several trips around to Pierpont 
Street to look at the newly inhabited house 
from the front ; but there was no more sat- 
isfaction to be gained from this view than 
from the other. The only time she saw 
any one at all was when a great shining 
automobile stopped in front of the house. 
Out of it jumped a tall bearded man with a 
black bag. He disappeared up the front 
12 


IN THE BAY-WINDOW 


steps, and the door was opened for him by 
the man in the buttoned uniform. That 
was all. Melissa thought he must be the 
owner, but she could n't be sure. 

So matters stood till a certain Monday, 
the one which began the third week after 
the house was opened. Melissa had just 
come in from school, washed her face and 
hands, eaten a piece of cake, collected her 
favorite books, and taken her seat by the 
window. Her mother was out, taking a 
number of finished baby-clothes to the 
store where she sold them. 

Melissa opened her book to the page 
where she had left off the day before ; then, 
as was her habit, she glanced up for a long, 
searching look at the big house. Then she 
dropped her book, clasped her hands 
on the sill in front of her, and gazed long 
and hard at the bay-window directly op- 
posite, the one where she had once seen the 
young woman in white. 

The young woman was there again, but 
she was not alone. Melissa could see ev- 

13 


MELISSA-ACROSS-THE-FENCE 

erything very plainly because the lace cur- 
tains were drawn back to allow the sun to 
stream in freely. In the center of the win- 
dow was a chair piled full of cushions, pil- 
lows, and shawls, and in the midst of all 
these there sat a little figure all swathed in 
bandages, even around its face and head. 
The young woman in white stood beside 
it, with her fingers on one of its wrists. 

"It ’s a child! It ’s a child !” said Me- 
lissa, ecstatically. “But, oh ! what can be 
the matter with the poor thing? It ’s so 
wrapped up in bandages and things that I 
can’t even tell whether it ’s a boy or a girl. 
And that must be a trained nurse, that 
young lady in white. He, she — I mean it 
— must be feeling a little better to be al- 
lowed to sit up in the window. I s’pose 
it ’s been in bed all this time.” 

At this moment the nurse brought some- 
thing in a glass and held it to the little fig- 
ure’s lips. Then she brought a fan and a 
book and sat reading aloud and fanning 
for several minutes. And all the time Me- 
14 


IN THE BAY-WINDOW 


lissa watched the scene, too absorbed to 
move. At last the nurse shut her book, 
drew the chair back from the window, 
dropped the curtains, and events were over 
for the day. 

Melissa went to bed that night in a state 
of greater excitement than ever. There 
was a child, then, after all; but was it a 
boy or a girl? How old could it be? 
And, above all, what had happened to it? 
An accident of some kind, plainly, for Me- 
lissa could think of no sickness that would 
cause it to be so swathed in bandages and 
so motionless. She felt as if she would 
give almost anything she owned to know 
the answer to these questions. But she 
could think of no one to ask, not even her 
mother, and so she had to be content with 
guessing. 

The next day was cloudy and dull. Me- 
lissa raced home from school at the stroke 
of three and spent the entire afternoon at 
the window ; but no small bandaged figure 
appeared there that day. 

i5 


MELI S S A- ACRO S S-TH E-F EN CE 


"I guess it was n't sunny enough," Me- 
lissa told herself. "And there was a 
cold wind blowing, too. I 'm sure it 'll be 
there to-morrow if the day 's nice." So 
she tried to comfort herself. All the same 
she was bitterly disappointed. 

But the next day was beautiful, and on 
her return from school there sat the ban- 
daged figure in the bay-window, with the 
faithful nurse beside it. That day Me- 
lissa caught a glimpse of a patch of bright 
hair, curly and golden, where one of the 
bandages had been set differently about the 
head. 

"Oh, it 's got lovely hair !" she said 
aloud. "I 'm glad it 's got such pretty 
hair — just like a big doll I saw once in a 
store window, only prettier." Her mother 
was out again, and when Melissa was 
alone, she often talked to herself. Now 
she went right on : 

"Perhaps every day or so there '11 be 
something different about the bandages 
and things, and then, by and by, I 'll be 
16 


IN THE BAY-WINDOW* 


able to tell just what it is. Then maybe 
it 'll get so well it can run about the gar- 
den, and I ’ll haVe a chance to see it much 
better. Perhaps sometime it ’ll wave to 
me, and perhaps — ” But here the nurse 
arose and drew the curtains and ended 
Melissa’s dreams for another day. 

After that, for a whole week, there was 
no special change. Every sunny day the 
little invalid was placed in the window at 
about the same time, and never for more 
than fifteen or twenty minutes. Then one 
afternoon Melissa noticed a difference. 
There was one bandage less about the 
head, and more curly hair could be seen. 
In another two days a pair of hands, free 
from bandages, appeared on the silken 
comfortable wrapped about the figure. 
The invalid seemed much interested in 
these hands, looked at them very often 
and tried to wriggle the fingers. When it 
did that the nurse laughed, shook her head, 
and covered them with her own. 

After that it rained for five days in suc- 


MELISSA-ACROSS-THE-FENCE 




cession, and Melissa, though she watched 
faithfully, had not so much as one glimpse 
of the little bandaged figure that had come 
to mean so much to her. Every morning 
when she got up she would rush to the win- 
dow to see the weather, and every morn- 
ing she would turn away with a dis- 
gusted sigh. 

“Raining again !” she would say. 

On the sixth day it was still raining, but 
at two in the afternoon the clouds broke 
away, and the sun came gloriously out. 
Melissa danced home from school, scarcely 
touching the pavement with her feet. She 
did not even stop to wash her face and eat 
her daily portion of cake. Instead she 
tossed her books on a chair and flew to the 
window, not even heeding her mother’s 
protest : 

“Why, Melissa! How could you! 
your books are right on my sewing.” 

The bay-window opposite was wide 
open. The curtains were all pulled aside. 
A figure sat in the big chair as usual, but 


IN THE BAY-WINDOW 


with a wonderful difference. It was no 
longer swathed in bandages, not even in 
one. It still sat among many pillows and 
cushions, but it was fully dressed, except 
for the prettiest figured-silk dressing-gown 
in the world, which it wore over its other 
clothes. 

Melissa gave just one look, and then she 
uttered a cry which made her mother turn 
and st^re at her in amazement. 

“Why,” she exclaimed, fairly stuttering 
in her excitement, “it ’s — a — b — boy!” 


19 


CHAPTER III 

THE BOY IN THE BIG HOUSE 

W ELL, I can’t think what you find so 
extraordinary in that,” exclaimed 
Melissa’s mother, and she also came to 
look out of the window. “What if it is 
a boy?” 

“But don’t you see,” explained Melissa, 
“I did n’t know till just now what it — I 
mean he — was, he was all wrapped up in 
bandages and things for so long. Did n’t 
you notice?” 

“No, I did n’t notice,” said her mother, 
turning away. “I have n’t any time to be 
looking out of the window, dearie. If the 
little fellow has been sick, I ’m glad he ’s 
better.” And with this her interest in 
the whole affair vanished. 

But Melissa’s interest did not vanish. 


20 


THE BOY IN THE BIG HOUSE 


On the contrary, it grew ten times as great. 
And when she had rushed through the 
washing of her face and hands, she took 
her cake and sat down at the window in 
order that she might not lose a moment of 
the newest wonder. 

Yes, it was a boy and a very beautiful 
boy at that. Melissa could see that even 
at a distance. He had a mop of curly yel- 
low hair, as she had already guessed, and 
bright eyes. Their color she was too far 
away to distinguish. But he was very 
pale, and he scarcely moved at all during 
the whole time he sat there. The white- 
capped nurse came and sat by him awhile, 
but she did not read aloud as usual. In- 
stead, she laid the book on his knees, and 
he turned a page once in a long while in a 
slow, feeble way, as if it hurt him to move 
his hands. He sat by the window that day 
for nearly an hour, and then the nurse 
wheeled him away. Melissa gave a litttle 
sigh of content as he disappeared. 

“He ’s getting lots better,” she told her- 
21 


MELISSA-ACROSS-THE-FENCE 


self. “Soon he will be stronger, and some 
day perhaps they ’ll take him down-stairs 
and let him sit outdoors.” 

The days passed, and it was evident that 
the boy was growing stronger. He held 
his book and turned the leaves more firmly. 
He moved his hands about with greater 
freedom, and even whittled at things with 
a penknife. Later he had a small table in 
front of him on which appeared mechan- 
ical toys and boyish tools of various kinds. 
In these he took great interest for a time, 
and then grew plainly tired of them and 
did not touch them any more. Once he 
had a large sheet of white paper on the 
table before him, and seemed to be making 
a drawing of some kind on it. 

But he did not go down-stairs or sit out 
on the sunny lawn. Melissa wondered 
about that. Also she wondered much 
about what could possibly have happened 
to him to make him ill for so long a time. 
She felt as if she would give anything to 
call across and ask him; but this she did 


22 


THE BOY IN THE BIG HOUSE 


not dare to do, nor did she like to seem to 
watch him in that way. She often won- 
dered if he noticed her sitting daily in her 
window, or had any idea how much inter- 
est she took in his affairs. 

The nurse seemed to be with him less 
often now, though Melissa sometimes saw 
her flitting about in the room behind him. 
But once another person came and sat all 
the afternoon by the boy, reading and talk- 
ing to him, with her hand in his. This 
was a very beautiful lady in wonderful, 
shimmery clothes. Melissa immediately 
guessed her to be his mother. She knew 
it by the lovely curling, golden hair so like 
his and by the sweet understanding way 
she seemed to have with him. 

“But I wonder why she is n’t with him 
all the time,” thought Melissa. “I won- 
der what keeps her away. And he seems 
so happy with her, too.” 

But the lady did not come again, and 
the little lad, as time passed, seemed to 
grow very restless and weary of being con- 

23 


MELISSA-ACROSS-THE-FENCE 


fined to his chair. He would wriggle 
about in it, take up a book, and throw it 
aside again after a moment, play with his 
toys and tools for five minutes, then turn 
away from them also. The nurse did her 
best to amuse him, but it was plain that 
often she did not succeed very well. Sev- 
eral times Melissa thought she heard him 
tell her to “Go away!” in rather a loud, 
fretful voice. 

“Poor little boy!” she thought. “How 
awfully, awfully tired he must be of sit- 
ting there all the time ! I wish I could do 
something to amuse him. I wish I dared.” 

But she never did dare. She was a 
nicely brought up little girl and had been 
taught by her mother that she must never 
intrude herself on people, especially if she 
did not know them. One day, however, 
something happened that made her forget 
even this well-drilled lesson in manners. 

It was half-past three of a hot June aft- 
ernoon, and she had just taken her seat 
at the window. The boy was sitting op- 
24 


THE BOY IN THE BIG HOUSE 


posite as usual, a table in front of him on 
which was a large sheet of drawing-paper. 
But he was not drawing. He sat with his 
eyes fixed on nothing, staring straight 
ahead of him, and the corners of his mouth 
drooped in the most forlorn manner in the 
world. It made Melissa’s heart ache to 
watch him. 

All at once she was startled to see him 
place his arms on the table and lean his 
head on them; then his shoulders began 
to shake. Melissa knew as well as if she 
were standing by his side that he was sob- 
bing as if his heart would break. It 
seemed to her as if she could not look at 
so sad a sight, as if she had no right to. 
She turned her head away, and scarcely 
knew that the tears were standing in her 
own eyes. When she turned back, he was 
sitting up again, wiping his eyes with a 
handkerchief, which he presently stuffed 
into his pocket. Then he began to stare 
vacantly out of the window again. 

Melissa never realized what she was do- 

25 


MELISSA-ACROSS-THE-FENCE 


in g. In fact, she did n’t stop to think of 
it at all. So absorbed was she in sympa- 
thy for the little sick lad who seemed to be 
in trouble that she leaned out of the win- 
dow and waved a friendly hand to him and 
smiled. 

For a moment he did not seem to see; 
then his eye caught the signaling hand and 
the friendly little smile behind it. In an 
instant he sat up straight, an eager look 
came into his pale face, and he waved his 
own hand frantically in return. It was 
then that Melissa suddenly realized what 
she had done without thinking, and she 
sank back shyly into her chair. 

“Oh, I s’pose I ought n’t ; but he seemed 
so sad,” she thought, “and then so glad I 
waved to him ! I hope mother won’t 
mind.” All this time the boy seemed to be 
rummaging about, trying to find some- 
thing he had lost or dropped. Melissa 
watched him furtively. Then at last he 
found it on the floor near his chair. It 
was evidently a pencil, and with it he went 
26 


THE BOY IN THE BIG HOUSE 


to work, hard and rapidly, on the big 
sheet of paper before him. 

Melissa watched him and wondered. 
What could he be doing? And why was 
he suddenly so eager to draw just because 
she had waved to him? For the life of 
her she could n’t see any reason ; but she 
was soon to know. 

A few moments later the boy dropped 
his pencil and held the paper straight up, 
facing her. On it he had printed some 
words in letters nearly a foot high. And 
Melissa, to her great astonishment, read 
thereon this message : 

“I AM SO LONESOME.” 


27 


CHAPTER IV 


WITH PENCIL AND CHALK 

M ELISSA read the sentence three 
times; then it dawned on her that 
the boy was trying to talk to her across the 
wide space that separated them. She 
nodded her head at him several times, and 
he lowered the paper. And then it 
dawned on her further that he would prob- 
ably expect an answer. What was she to 
do? 

It happened that she was alone again 
that afternoon, as she frequently was. 
She had no large sheet of paper, and a 
small one would never do. For a moment 
she thought of using a sheet of her moth- 
er’s nice wrapping-paper ; but as she real- 
ized that her mother could not afford to 
spare it, she gave that up. All at once she 
28 


WITH PENCIL AND CHALK 


thought of her toy blackboard. With a 
little excited cry, she ran to get it and a 
piece of chalk. On it she managed to 
print in very large white letters : 

‘T AM VERY SORRY.” 

This she held to the window, and peeped 
over the top to see its effect on the boy. 

He peered at it a long time, shading his 
eyes with his hands. Then he turned and 
seemed to call to some one in the room 
back of him. In a short time the man 
with many buttons on his coat appeared 
with several sheets of white paper and 
something else, which he laid on the boy’s 
knee. The boy raised this “something” to 
his eyes, and Melissa beheld him staring 
across at her blackboard through what 
seemed to be a large pair of opera-glasses. 
These he presently put aside and began 
with his pencil to work on another mes- 
sage. 

Melissa waited in breathless excitement. 
This was better fun than anything she had 
29 


MELISSA-ACROSS-THE-FENCE 


ever known before. She wondered and 
wondered what he was going to say next, 
but she had not long to wait. In another 
moment he held up the paper, on which 
was printed: 

“LET ’S BE FRIENDS.” 

Melissa was even more excited. This 
wonderful boy in the grand house wanted 
to be friends with her — Melissa! She 
cleaned the blackboard with her eraser and 
wrote : 

“ALL RIGHT.” 

This she held to the window, and he ex- 
amined it with the glasses. Then he went 
to work again, and Melissa read a moment 
later : 

“I AM VICTOR BONNER.” 

“Now, that ’s nice,” she thought. “I 
know his name. I always hate to think of 
him as just ‘the boy.' ” And on her own 
blackboard she printed: 

“I AM MELISSA MAPES.” 

30 


WITH PENCIL AND CHALK 


This information seemed to cause him 
pleasure, for he waved his hand and made 
her a military salute. 

“Just like we salute the flag in school,” 
thought Melissa, proudly. But while she 
was thinking this, he was working again. 
The next sheet displayed two sentences : 

“1 AM TWELVE. 

HOW OLD ARE YOU?” 

And Melissa replied : 

“I AM TEN. 1 
HAVE YOU BEEN VERY SICK?” 

The boy took a long time to answer this, 
and spoiled two sheets of paper before he 
made one that suited him. That one read : 

“BAD ACCIDENT. 

LAUNCH BLEW UP.” 

Melissa was puzzled. She actually 
did n’t know what a launch was, never 
having seen or even heard of one before. 
She did n’t exactly know how to answer, so 
she printed : 


3i 


MELISSA-ACROSS-THE-FENCE 


“I AM SORRY. 

WHAT IS A LAUNCH?” 

The boy laughed when he read it, and his 
answering paper explained : 

“LITTLE BOAT. 

RUN BY STEAM. 

ENGINE EXPLODED.” 

This was better. Melissa felt that at 
last she could imagine a reason for all the 
bandages. So she wrote next: 

“DID IT HURT YOU MUCH?” 

Again he was a long time answering, and 
finally held up two papers containing a 
whole list of “hurts.” On one was 
printed : 

“SKIN BURNED OFF. 

HAIR SINGED. 

LEG BROKEN.” 

And on the other : 

“RIB BROKEN. 

EYES HURT. 

ALL RIGHT NOW.” 

32 


WITH PENCIL AND CHALK 

“Good gracious !” thought Melissa, 
“what a lot to have the matter with one! 
No wonder it took so long to get well. ,, 
But one thing still puzzled her, so she 
printed on her board: 

“WHY DON’T YOU GO OUT?” 

The boy looked rather solemn when he 
read that, and replied : 

“CAN’T. SOMETHING THE MATTER 
WITH MY HEART.” 

“Oh,” thought Melissa, “I wish I had n’t 
asked that ! It made him feel bad. I ’ll 
say something different now.” So she 
printed : 

“I LIKE YOUR LAWN AND FOUNTAIN.” 

The boy laughed again at that, and an- 
swered : 

“I DON’T. 

NOT HALF AS NICE AS IDLEHOURS.” 

Here was another puzzle. Melissa 
could n’t imagine what he meant by that 
last sentence. So she wrote : 

33 


MELISSA-ACROSS-THE-FENCE 
‘‘WHAT IS IDLEHOURS ?” 

And the boy quickly replied : 

“MY OTHER HOME IN THE COUNTRY/’ 

Then Melissa knew the answer to a lot 
of things she had often puzzled about. 
The boy had another home, then, where he 
had probably always lived till now. 
Doubtless it was in some beautiful coun- 
try place, and that was where his acci- 
dent had happened. She wisely guessed 
that he had been brought here so that he 
could be near the doctors and get well more 
quickly. While she was thinking all this 
over, he wrote again: 

“I HATE THIS HOUSE.” 

This was very astonishing to Melissa. 
That any one could hate such a big, beau- 
tiful place was something she simply could 
not understand. She replied : 

“I THINK IT IS A LOVELY HOUSE.” 

The boy quickly answered : 

34 


WITH PENCIL AND CHALK 


“IT’S HORRID. 

YOU SHOULD SEE IDLEHOURS.” 

“Well,” thought Melissa, “Idlehours 
must be perfectly wonderful if he thinks 
this so horrid.” But there was something 
else she wanted to ask. And so she wrote 
next: 

“WHY DO YOU LOOK THROUGH THOSE 
OPERA GLASSES?” 

He answered on two sheets of paper : 

“CANT SEE WELL YET FAR OFF. 
THEY ARE MARINE GLASSES. 

USE THEM ON BOATS.” 

“He must be awfully fond of boats,” 
thought Melissa. “He is always talking 
about them. I guess Idlehours must be 
near the water.” After thinking a long 
while, she wrote back : 

“I WENT ON A BOAT ONCE. 

UP THE HUDSON.” 

The boy seemed about to reply to this 
when there was a sudden commotion be- 
35 


MELISSA-ACROSS-THE-FENCE 

hind him, and the nurse in white appeared. 
After a good deal of talk between them, 
he wrote and held up this message: 

“GOT TO GO BACK TO BED. 

GOOD NIGHT.” 

The nurse laughed aloud as he held it up. 
Melissa printed “GOOD NIGHT” on her 
blackboard, they waved to each other 
again, and the boy was wheeled away out 
of sight. 

“Why, Melissa,” exclaimed her mother, 
who came in just at that instant, “what- 
ever are you doing with that blackboard?” 
Melissa tried to explain it all, and Mrs. 
Mapes listened, rather amazed and not at 
all sure that she approved till Melissa got 
to the part about poor little Victor’s acci- 
dent and “something the matter with his 
heart.” Then all her disapproval van- 
ished. 

“Poor little laddie!” she said at last. 
“I ’m glad you ’ve managed to amuse 
him.” But as she was setting the table 
36 


WITH PENCIL AND CHALK 

for supper she murmured many times to 
herself : 

“Well, I never ! If Melissa isn’t the 
strangest child!” 


37 


CHAPTER V 


THE FRIENDSHIP GROWS 

I T seemed to Melissa ages and ages till 
three o’clock next day, so wild was she 
to get home and begin exchanging mes- 
sages with the little invalid boy in the big 
house. Over and over she wondered 
what new thing he would have to say, and 
in her own mind she was treasuring up 
dozens of questions that she wanted to 
ask. Only one thing worried her, the 
amount of large sheets of drawing-paper 
he had used in talking to her. 

“If he keeps on like that, they ’ll soon be 
gone,” she thought. “And they cost a lot, 
too. And then perhaps he won’t talk any 
more.” 

What was her surprise, then, on rush- 
ing to the window in the afternoon, to be- 
38 


THE FRIENDSHIP GROWS 

hold him with a great new blackboard 
standing by his chair. As soon as he saw 
her, he waved frantically and chalked in 
big letters on his board : 

“I MADE THEM GET ME ONE, TOO.” 

Melissa wondered who “them” could be, 
but concluded that he meant the servants. 
And she wondered still more where his 
mother was, and why he did n’t ask her to 
get it. But she quickly dragged her own 
board to the window and wrote : 

“THAT IS FINE. 

HOW ARE YOU TO-DAY?” 

Up went the boy’s marine glasses, and 
then he answered : 

“BETTER. 

WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ALL 
DAY?” 

Melissa replied quickly: 

“AT SCHOOL. 

THIS IS THE LAST WEEK.” 

39 


MELISSA-ACROSS-THE-FENCE 

The boy looked pleased and wrote : 

“HURRAH. 

AFTER THAT WE WILL TALK ALL 
DAY.” 

From this Melissa guessed that he must 
now spend much more of his time sitting 
in the window. In return she informed 
him: 

“I AM GOING TO BE PROMOTED.” 

He was a long time studying that 
through his glasses, and finally inquired: 

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THAT?” 

Melissa was amazed. That any child 
of twelve should not know what “pro- 
moted” meant was something she could 
scarcely understand. She tried to ex- 
plain : 

“PUT IN A HIGHER CLASS.” 

He seemed to understand that better, 
and answered: 

“I NEVER WENT TO SCHOOL.” 

40 


THE FRIENDSHIP GROWS 

Melissa was more and more astonished. 
She demanded : 

“THEN HOW DID YOU LEARN 
THINGS ?” 

“PRIVATE TUTOR,” 

was his reply, and it was now Melissa’s 
turn to ask : 

“WHAT IS THAT?” 

He smiled a little as he printed : 

“TEACHER AT HOME. 

A MAN.” 

So here at last was the explanation. 
Still, Melissa wondered where his mother 
could be, and why she did n’t teach her 
little son herself. While she was think- 
ing it over, he wrote : 

“I LIKE YOUR NAME, 
MELISSA.” 

And she promptly demanded: 

“WHY?” 

4i 


MELISSA- ACROSS-THE-FENCE 

He thought a long while over that, and 
finally wrote: 

“BECAUSE IT SOUNDS DIFFERENT.” 

“Different from what?” wondered Me- 
lissa. But before she could ask, he had 
rubbed that out and printed : 

“DO YOU KNOW WHAT I CALL 
YOU?” 

She shook her head in answer, and he 
replied : 

“MELISSA-ACROSS-THE-FENCE.” 

This was such an unusual idea that Me- 
lissa laughed and laughed, and Victor 
laughed, too, in sympathy. Then she 
wrote : 

”BUT THAT ISN’T MY NAME.” 

And he only replied : 

“I DON’T CARE. 

I LIKE IT BEST.” 

All she could think of in answer to this 
was: 

42 


THE FRIENDSHIP GROWS 


“IT SOUNDS LIKE AN INDIAN 
NAME.” 

Her answer seemed to make him grow 
very much excited, and he hurriedly scrib- 
bled: 

“IT IS. 

THAT’S WHY I LIKE IT. 

DO YOU EVER PLAY INDIANS?” 

This amused the gentle little Melissa 
more than anything yet. 

“NO. NEVER. 

DO YOU?” 

She asked him, and he replied : 

“A WHOLE LOT.” 

And when she had read it, he went on : 
“I AM BIG CHIEF EAGLE-FEATHER.” 

Before she could answer even this he 
continued : 

“LET’S PLAY INDIANS SOMETIME.” 
Melissa replied : 

“ALL RIGHT,” 

43 




MELISSA-ACROSS-THE-FENCE 

though she was really a good deal puzzled 
as to how they were going to play Indian 
with only a couple of blackboards to talk 
by. The question of Indians being set- 
tled, however, Victor appeared to have 
others to ask. 

“DO YOU LIVE IN THAT WHOLE 
LITTLE HOUSE?” 

he printed next. 

“NO. ONLY ON THE TOP FLOOR,” 

was her reply. 

And to his next question : 

“WHO LIVES DOWN-STAIRS?” 

she answered: 

“OLD MR. LETOUR. 

HE IS A SHOEMAKER. 

HE PLAYS THE FLUTE.” 

Victor hurriedly replied to that: 

“I HEARD HIM LAST NIGHT. 

I LIKE IT.” 

44 




THE FRIENDSHIP GROWS 

Before she could think what to say next, 
[Victor inquired: 

“WHO DO YOU LIVE WITH?” 

Melissa printed: 

“MY MOTHER. 

NO ONE ELSE.” 

The boy answered : 

“I SAW HER ONCE AT THE 
WINDOW. 

I LIKE HER.” 

Somehow this pleased Melissa more 
than anything he had said yet. And she 
smiled at her mother, who was sitting near, 
as she answered : 

“I AM SO GLAD.” 

But her mother did not notice, because 
she was very busy crocheting a baby’s 
tiny bootee. 

Victor next imparted to Melissa another 
piece of news : 


45 


MELISSA-ACROSS-THE-FENCE 


“MY NURSE’S NAME IS MISS BLAKE. 
SHE IS VERY NICE.” 

Melissa replied : 

“SHE LOOKS VERY KIND AND 
PRETTY.” 

He then added : 

“SHE GOES OUT EVERY AFTER- 
NOON.” 

Melissa printed: 

“THEN YOU MUST BE LONELY.” 
And Victor answered: 

“NOT SINCE I CAN TALK TO YOU.” 

She could have laughed aloud with pleas- 
ure. But there was something else she 
wanted to ask, so she printed very large : 

“DO YOU LIKE TO READ BOOKS?” 

When he had nodded a vigorous assent, 
she went on : 

“I LIKE MISS ALCOTT’S. 

WHAT KIND DO YOU LIKE?” 

46 


THE FRIENDSHIP GROWS 

But she was a little disappointed when 
he wrote : 

“ONLY ONES ABOUT INDIANS AND 
BOATS.” 

Afterward, however, she thought, 
“Why, of course he likes those best. 
That ’s because he ’s a boy ” 

But the afternoon was drawing to a 
close, and though they had not exchanged 
very many messages, it took a long time 
to print them. Melissa saw Miss Blake 
come into the room, say something to the 
boy, and could almost hear him exclaim : 

“Just a little longer, Miss Blake — 
please!” Then she saw the nurse smile, 
and walk away out of sight ; but she knew 
the conversation was very near an end for 
that day. Now there was one question 
that Melissa had longed to ask her new 
friend above all others — a question that 
had puzzled her very much all along, and 
she felt that she could not let another day 
go by without knowing the answer. So 
4 7 


MELISSA-ACROSS-THE-FENCE 


while the boy was drinking a glass of 
milk that his nurse had handed him she 
printed : 

“IS YOUR MOTHER COMING HOME 
SOON?” 

Little Victor put down his empty glass, 
raised his marine glasses to his eyes, and 
read this new question. Unlike his usual 
manner, however, he did not begin to an- 
swer it at once, but sat thinking awhile, 
staring out across the lawn at nothing. 
At last he took his chalk and wrote slowly 
just four words: 

“I HAVE NT ANY MOTHER.” 

When Melissa read that she could have 
cried with vexation to think how thought- 
less she had been in asking him such a 
question. She might have known his 
mother was no longer living, else she 
would have seen her always near her boy. 
It had plainly made him feel very bad in- 
deed. What could she say after that? 
48 


THE FRIENDSHIP GROWS 

There was only one thing she could think 
of, and this she wrote : 

“AND I HAVE N’T ANY FATHER. 
NOT FOR FIVE YEARS.” 

When the boy had read that, he an- 
swered : 

“I HAVE A FATHER AND AN AUNT. 
DAD IS FINE. 

SO IS AUNT VIRGINIA.” 

But Miss Blake now came over to his 
side, and there was plainly no putting her 
off any longer. So he wrote as he had 
the day before : 

“MUST GO BACK TO BED NOW. 
GOOD NIGHT.” 

And when Melissa had printed 

“GOOD NIGHT,” 

both he and Miss Blake waved to her and 
disappeared from the window. 

But long after Melissa herself had gone 
to bed that night she lay thinking and 
49 


MELISSA-ACROSS-THE-FENCE 


thinking over all the new things she had 
learned about the boy that day, and espe- 
cially about the fact that he had no mother. 
And all of a sudden she sat right up in bed, 
struck by a thought that had not occurred 
to her before. The lovely lady in the 
shimmery clothes that she had seen with 
him once must be his Aunt Virginia. 

“Why, of course !” she exclaimed 
aloud. “Now I know.” 

“Lie down, Melissa,” said her mother, 
sleepily. “Whatever is the matter ? Did 
you have a bad dream?” 

“Oh, no,” said Melissa and laughed, 
“but I think I ’m going to have some very 
nice ones.” 


50 


CHAPTER VI 


MORE TALK AND A CONCERT 

“TELL ME HOW YOU GOT HURT” 

was the first thing Melissa printed on her 
blackboard next day. Till then they had 
been so busy getting acquainted that they 
had thought and said nothing much about 
this except what Victor had written the 
first day, and Melissa was very anxious to 
know. 

Now that the subject was mentioned, 
Victor himself seemed no less anxious to 
tell her. But it was such a long story 
that he had to print it in a number of sep- 
arate parts. First he informed her : 

“DAD GAVE ME A LITTLE LAUNCH 
NAMED THE SPRAY ” 

At this, Melissa chalked on her board : 

“THAT IS A PRETTY NAME.” 

5i 


MELISSA-ACROSS-THE-FENCE 
He replied : 

“YES. 

I ALWAYS WENT OUT IN HER WITH 
MR. JAMES.” 

Here Melissa asked: 

“WHO IS HE?” 

And Victor answered: 

“MY TUTOR. 

WE RAN THE SPRAY TOGETHER.” 
When he had erased this he went on : 

“ONE DAY SOMETHING WENT 
WRONG WITH THE ENGINE.” 

Melissa at once demanded: 

“WHAT?” 

But he only replied : 

“I DON’T KNOW. 

MR. JAMES WAS RUNNING IT.” 

He continued: 

“THERE CAME AN AWFUL BANG. 
52 


MORE TALK AND A CONCERT 
Then: 

“I WENT RIGHT UP IN THE AIR.” 
And: 

“NEXT I KNEW I WAS FLOATING IN 
THE WATER.” 

Here Melissa wrote : 

“THAT MUST HAVE BEEN AWFUL.” 

She was really quite horrified. Victor 
answered : 

“IT WAS. 

THEN THEY FISHED ME OUT ” 
And went on: 

“AFTER THAT I DID N’T REMEMBER 
ANYTHING 
FOR A LONG TIME.” 

Melissa now had another question to 
ask: 

“HOW LONG?” 

He thought a moment and then wrote: 

“THEY SAID IT WAS THREE WEEKS.” 
53 


MELISSA-ACROSS-THE-FENCE 

“My!” exclaimed Melissa, “this is the 
worst thing I ever heard of !” 

“WHAT NEXT?” 

she printed excitedly. He continued : 

“THEY KEPT ME IN COTTON AND 
OIL AND PLASTER AND BANDAGES.” 

Melissa's eyes were almost popping out 
of her head at this thrilling story. But 
he was not through yet, and went on : 

“DAD FELT AWFUL. 

I ’M HIS ONLY CHILD.” 

“I should think he would feel awful !” 
thought Melissa. 

“THEN THEY BROUGHT ME HERE,” 
appeared on Victor's board, 

“SO I COULD BE NEAR THE 
DOCTOR’S. 

IDLEHOURS IS TOO FAR AWAY.” 

Melissa seized her own chalk. 

54 


MORE TALK AND A CONCERT 
“IS YOUR FATHER HERE NOW?” 
she questioned. 

“NO. HE HAD TO GO SOUTH WHEN 
I GOT BETTER,” 

wrote Victor, and added: 

“ON BUSINESS.” 

But another thought had come to Me- 
lissa. 

“WHAT HAPPENED TO MR. JAMES?” 

she demanded. Victor instantly replied: 

“HE WAS HARD HIT TOO. 

HE IS IN A HOSPITAL NOW.” 

And Melissa wrote : 

“I HOPE HE WILL BE ALL RIGHT.” 

Victor assured her : 

“HE IS MUCH BETTER. 
NEARLY WELL.” 

Melissa now had a piece of advice to 
give, and she printed : 

55 


MELISSA-ACROSS-THE-FENCE 

“DON’T EVER GO IN A LAUNCH 
AGAIN.’’ 

He laughed as he answered: 

“I WON’T. 

DAD IS GOING TO GIVE ME A 
CANOE.” 

And he added : 

“THAT ’S WHAT INDIANS USE, SO 
IT ’S MUCH BETTER.” 

Having now heard all about the acci- 
dent that had brought this pleasant boy 
close to her, Melissa thought of still an- 
other question she had always longed to 
ask, and printed : 

“DO YOU LIKE DOGS? 

I WONDER IF YOU HAVE ONE.” 

A new light came into the boy’s face as 
he answered: 


“I LOVE THEM. 

I HAVE A BEAUTY.” 


To Melissa’s query: 

56 


MORE TALK AND A CONCERT 
“WHERE IS HE?” 

Victor replied: 

“AT IDLEHOURS. 

I MISS HIM AWFULLY.” 

Melissa next inquired: 

“WHAT KIND OF A DOG IS HE?” 

Victor answered : 

“A CHOW. 

YELLOW AND WHITE.” 

Melissa was thoroughly puzzled. She 
had never heard of that kind of dog, and 
somehow she did n’t exactly like to confess 
it. So she let it pass, promising herself to 
discover in some other way. Then she 
asked : 

“WHAT IS HIS NAME?” 

To this Victor printed just one word in 
answer : 

“BIM.” 

It struck Melissa as such a comical and 
unusual name that she laughed quite heart- 
57 


MELISSA-ACROSS-THE-FENCE 

ily about it; but while she was laughing, 
Victor wrote something that made her sit 
up straight with interest: 

“WILL YOU DO ME A FAVOR?” 

She made haste to answer : 

“YES, INDEED. WHAT?” 

He replied in several separate parts : 

“I DON’T SLEEP WELL NIGHTS. 

LEG HURTS. 

RIB, TOO.” 

Then: 

“DO YOU KNOW MR. LETOUR 
WELL? IS HE NICE?” 

Melissa, wondering what on earth could 
be coming, wrote : 

“YES. QUITE WELL. 

HE IS VERY KIND.” 

This seemed to please Victor, and he 
went on : 

“WHEN HE PLAYS THE FLUTE I 
ALWAYS FEEL BETTER.” 

58 


MORE TALK AND A CONCERT 

And added : 

‘‘WON’T YOU ASK HIM IN TO PLAY 
TO-NIGHT? 

IT MAKES ME GO TO SLEEP.” 

Melissa lost not a moment in replying: 

"OF COURSE I WILL. 

I KNOW HE WILL BE GLAD TO.” 

Then, after a second thought, she 
added : 

"IF HE IS N’T TOO TIRED.” 

Victor answered: 

"THANKS SO MUCH. 

HERE IS MISS BLAKE. 

SUPPOSE I ’VE GOT TO GO TO BED.” 

After the usual interchange of good 
nights, Melissa put her blackboard away 
and sat a long time thinking over all Victor 
had told her. And while she was waiting 
for her mother’s return from the stores, 
she decided to go down and have a talk 
with Mr. Letour. 


59 


MELISSA-ACROSS-THE-FENCE 


Mr. Letour was a shoemaker and had a 
tiny shop at the front, on the ground floor 
of the little house. But he never seemed 
to make any new shoes, for all his time ap- 
peared to be spent in repairing old ones. 
It is safe to say that almost every old shoe 
in the neighborhood had at some time 
passed through his hands. 

He was a very kindly old man, with 
snow-white hair and great iron-rimmed 
spectacles. Besides mending shoes, he 
seemed to care only for the little flute that 
he played when not at work. But he 
worked so hard that he was often too tired 
for even that pleasure, and would only sit 
in his tiny back room, with folded hands, 
thinking and thinking. When Melissa 
came into the shop he was working on a 
very dilapidated old shoe, and he did not 
stop working, only said : 

“Sit down, little Melissa, and tell me 
how goes the day with you.” Melissa sat 
down on the other end of his bench and 
before she knew it had begun eagerly to 
60 



we have a concert tonight” 






MORE TALK AND A CONCERT 


describe the poor little lad in the big house, 
and all his troubles, and how they ex- 
changed messages, and how he longed to 
hear some music at night to make him 
sleep. 

“Poor soul! poor soul!” murmured Mr. 
Letour, indistinctly, because he was hold- 
ing the waxed thread in his mouth. “It 
is not always the rich that are happy. 
No, no. Nor comfortable, either. Their 
money cannot buy away the pain. Yes, I 
play to-night, though I am very tired. I 
play the fine music. We put the poor 
laddie to sleep.” 

“Oh, thank you !” said Melissa. “And 
I 'll listen, too. Mother and I both love 
your music.” 

“So? So?” exclaimed the pleased old 
man. “Yes, it is a good flute. Once I 
play very well, very well indeed, in a big 
orchestra. I was a young man then. 
Yes, we have a concert to-night.” But 
Melissa had something else on her mind. 

“Mr. Letour,” she began hesitatingly, 
61 


MELISSA-ACROSS-THE-F£NCE 

“do you know anything about dogs — the 
different kinds, I mean?” 

“Ah, yes. I love the dogs. Once I 
used to own many. I have now a whole 
book about them.” 

“Oh, good! Well, what is a Chow dog, 
then?” 

“A Chow? He is a rare dog, a kind of 
Chinese dog. Costs a lot, very expensive ; 
but very beautiful, too. See! I have a 
picture of him.” And Mr. Letour rum- 
maged out a big book from the shelf be- 
hind him, turned a few leaves, and showed 
Melissa a picture. 

“Is he not beautiful ? Yes ?” 

“Oh, lovely!” exclaimed Melissa. 
“Well, Mr. Letour, our Victor in the big 
house has a dog just like that.” 

“Then he should be one very happy 
boy,” beamed Mr. Letour, closing the 
book. 

Melissa lay long awake that night, lis- 
tening to some of the loveliest music she 
had ever heard. Never before had she 
62 


MORE TALK AND A CONCERT 

realized what Mr. Letour could do with 
his flute when he was interested enough to 
give a real concert. And as she drowsed 
off into blissful slumber under its spell she 
whispered to herself : 

“Oh, how I hope this is making little 
Victor happy and comfortable and sleepy 
to-night !” 


f 


63 


CHAPTER VII 


BIM 

N EXT day, Victor’s first message 
read: 

“THE MUSIC WAS FINE. 

I SLEPT WELL. 

PLEASE THANK MR. LETOUR FOR 
ME.” 

The two children told each other of 
many things that afternoon. Victor ex- 
plained why his father had to be away so 
much, because of his business, and why 
he did n’t see his Aunt Virginia oftener. 
She, it seemed, had gone on a short trip 
to Europe, but expected to return sometime 
during the coming month. Even then 
Victor did not think he would see her 
often, because she lived a long way off, and 
had many duties to which she must attend. 
64 


BIM 


Melissa, on her part, told about herself 
and her mother — why they lived in this 
tiny house, and how hard her mother 
worked to make a living for them both. 
She explained that it had n’t always been 
so. They had once lived in a nice, com- 
fortable house in another part of the town, 
when she was a tiny girl, before her father 
died. 

Then the boyTold a great deal about his 
life at his father’s beautiful country home, 
Idlehours, where he had always lived, how 
he had fished and swam and boated and 
played “Indian” all summer, and coasted, 
snowballed, and studied all winter, having 
his father with him as often as possible. 
And Melissa understood at last why it was 
that this great city house had not been 
used by its owner for so long. 

All this and many other things they told 
each other, and the telling occupied several 
days. Each night good old Mr. Letour 
gave them a fine concert, never playing the 
same thing two nights in succession, and 
65 


MELISSA-ACROSS-THE-FENCE 


Victor announced that he had n't slept so 
well for weeks past. Then one day he 
opened the afternoon’s conversation with 
the sentence : 

‘‘LET’S PLAY INDIANS.” 

Of course Melissa’s first question was: 

“HOW SHALL WE DO IT?” 

But the boy evidently had it all planned 
out, for he only wrote: 

“LIKE THIS. 

LOOK” 

Melissa looked and saw him pull from 
under his chair a crown of chicken-feath- 
ers and place it on his head. So odd did 
his yellow curls appear in this warlike 
head-dress that she could n’t help smiling. 
Next he took a piece of red chalk and drew 
strange, broad lines on his cheeks and 
forehead, the effect of which was so star- 
tling that Melissa almost shrieked with 
laughter. 


66 


BIM 

“YOU MUSTN’T LAUGH,” 

he warned her. 

“THIS IS MY WAR PAINT 

After that, he wrapped a striped blanket 
about himself and informed her : 

“NOW I AM BIG CHIEF EAGLE- 
FEATHER.” 

Melissa now inquired: 

“BUT WHAT AM I TO DO?” 

He had his answer ready for that : 

“YOU ARE SQUAW MELISSA-ACROSS- 
THE-FENCE? 

CAN’T YOU FIX UP A LITTLE?” 
Melissa replied: 

“BUT I HAVE N’T ANY FEATHERS. 

He quickly informed her : 

“SQUAWS DON’T WEAR FEATHERS.” 

Then Melissa, who happened to remem- 
67 


MELISSA-ACROSS-THE-FENCE 


ber the picture of an Indian girl that she 
had once seen, wrote 

“WAIT” 


on her board, and disappeared into the 
bedroom. When she reappeared at the 
window she had her dark hair in two long 
braids hanging over her chest, and a nar- 
row belt of her mother’s fastened about 
her forehead. Besides that she had 
draped a bright red bed-quilt about her 
shoulders. So like a real little Indian did 
she look that the boy clapped his hands and 
printed : 

“BULLY.” 

To her demand: 

“WHAT NEXT?” 

he replied: 

“YOU BUILD A FIRE TO ROAST THE 
FISH I’M GOING TO CATCH.” 

Then he picked up a cane that lay near 
him, tied a string to it, and pretended to be 
68 


BIM 


fishing out of the window. Melissa, 
catching the spirit of this play, made mo- 
tions to imitate picking up wood, lighting 
a fire, blowing on it to make it higher, and 
cooking something in one of her mother’s 
frying-pans. Next they pretended to eat 
the fish, and after that he ordered: 

“NOW WE ARE GOING HUNTING.” 

From somewhere near his chair he 
picked up a toy bow and arrows, and aimed 
one straight at the stone child in the foun- 
tain. Melissa also pretended to aim an 
arrow. Presently he let his own fly. It 
missed the child, much to Melissa’s relief, 
and landed harmlessly in the turf beyond. 
Immediately he wrote : 

“I JUST KILLED A BUFFALO. 

NOW WE WILL CUT IT UP.” 

Melissa cheerfully pretended to assist at 
the task. 

So they played all the afternoon, and 
Victor assured her that it was the best 
69 


MELISSA-ACROSS-THE-FENCE 


day's fun he 'd had yet. Just before he 
said good night, however, he wrote : 

“I HAVE A SURPRISE FOR YOU 
TO-MORROW/’ 

He would not consent to tell her another 
thing about it, and Melissa passed an al- 
most sleepless night, wondering what in 
the world it could be. 

When she awoke next morning, it was 
to remember that she had two pleasant 
things to think about. One was that 
school was over for ten long weeks, the 
other, that Victor had a surprise for her ; 
and as she hurried through the task of 
dressing, she was considering how soon 
she would discover what that surprise was. 
Not very soon, it appeared, for Victor did 
not come to his window till nearly noon. 
When at last Miss Blake had wheeled his 
chair into position, Melissa's first words 
were: 

"TELL ME ABOUT THE SURPRISE.” 


70 


BIM 


Before the boy could answer, however, 
the lower door of the big house opened, 
and out rushed the most beautiful dog that 
Melissa had ever seen. He was not so 
large as a collie, though he looked a little 
like one, with his thick, fluffy, white-and- 
yellow coat and the plume-like tail curled 
over his back. His head was shaped more 
like an Eskimo dog's that Melissa had 
once seen a picture of, but, on the whole, 
he was the image of the Chow dog in old 
Mr. Letour’s book. And while he raced 
round and round the lawn Victor wrote : 

“THAT IS THE SURPRISE.” 
THAT’S BIM.” 

Melissa was amazed. 

“BUT HOW DID HE GET HERE?” 

she asked, for she had thought him far 
away at Idlehours. 

“I SENT FOR HIM. 

HE CAME IN A CRATE LAST NIGHT.” 

replied Victor. Then : 

7i 


MELISSA-ACROSS-THE-FENCE 


“YOU MADE ME THINK OF HAVING 
HIM HERE WHEN YOU ASKED 
ABOUT HIM.” 

Melissa could hardly take her eyes from 
the racing dog, but she managed to write : 

“YOU MUST BE VERY HAPPY TO 
HAVE HIM HERE.” 

Victor assured her: 

“I AM. WE ARE GREAT PALS. 

I LOVE HIM NEXT TO DAD AND 
AUNT VIRGINIA.” 

The dog, meanwhile, had stopped his 
racing from sheer exhaustion, and was 
lapping the water out of the fountain- 
basin. Victor whistled to him, and he 
bounded away to scratch frantically at the 
door. A moment after it had been opened 
to him Melissa saw him fairly leap into 
his master’s arms, and Victor’s face buried 
in his fluffy fur. 

That day Mr. Letour was invited to be- 
hold the sight from the Mapes’s window. 

72 


BIM 


Melissa introduced her two friends by way 
of the blackboard, and they saluted each 
other in real military fashion. Victor 
thanked Mr. Letour, by means of his 
blackboard, for the beautiful music, and 
said how much good it had done him. 
And Mr. Letour, through Melissa and her 
board, pronounced Bim to be a wonderful 
Chow dog, and told Victor to let him out 
for a run often, and not keep him shut 
indoors too much. Then the old cobbler 
went back to his bench, humming hap- 
pily one of his gayest tunes. 

So a number of days slipped by, and 
another playmate was added to the two 
children. Bim became an active member, 
especially of their Indian games, and 
many a stray arrow from his master’s 
bow did he chase across the lawn and bring 
dutifully back, wagging his feathery tail. 
And Melissa, though she had never so 
much as laid a hand on his fluffy fur, loved 
him almost as much as his little master did. 
And every night, without fail, good old 
73 


MELISSA-ACROSS-THE-FENCE 

Mr. Letour’s flute sang the children to 
sleep. 

So passed a fortnight of peaceful days, 
and then something happened. 


74 


CHAPTER VIII 


SOMETHING HAPPENS 

T HE middle of July had come and the 
children still played daily by means 
of their blackboards. Bim grew well ac- 
quainted with his new home and appeared 
to like it, especially romping around the 
lawn and helping to play Indians. 

Victor also seemed to improve daily, de- 
spite the heat and his confinement to the 
house. Miss Blake said he could probably 
go back to Idlehours soon. When he told 
Melissa this, she wrote on her board : 

“THAT WILL BE FINE FOR YOU,” 

but into her own heart there crept a very 
lonely feeling. 

Then came one beautiful day that she 
was to remember afterward for a long, 
75 


MELISSA-ACROSS-THE-FENCE 


long time. A trying spell of heat was 
over, and the weather was cool and de- 
lightful. They played Indians all the 
morning, assisted by Bim. In the after- 
noon Victor seemed a little tired and 
wrote : 

“PLEASE TELL ME A STORY.” 

So Melissa told him one of her favorite 
fairy-stories, printing it sentence by sen- 
tence on her board; and Bim rolled all 
afternoon on the lawn, chased stray 
butterflies, and tried to jump into the 
fountain. This last trick made both 
children laugh, for he was much too big to 
get into the little basin. 

That night Mr. Letour played sweeter 
music than ever before, and Melissa 
dropped off to sleep, thinking she had 
never spent a happier day. 

The next morning was rainy, but now- 
a-days that fact did not interfere with 
Victor’s being at the window. Melissa 
was at hers first, cleaning her blackboard 
76 


SOMETHING HAPPENS 


and waiting for him to appear. Suddenly 
she raised her head and saw that he was 
there, and waved to him as usual. 

And at once she knew, though he, 
too, waved, that something was different, 
something was wrong. He was not smil- 
ing. He was very pale. The faint rosy 
color that had lately come into his cheeks 
had all left him, and his eyes looked as if 
he had been crying. 

“WHAT IS THE MATTER ?” 

questioned Melissa at once, and he an- 
swered : 

“A DREADFUL THING HAS 
HAPPENED.” 

Oh, why did n’t he tell her right away? 
Melissa felt that she could not stand the 
suspense. 

“TELL ME, QUICK,” 

she printed, waiting breathlessly for his 
answer. And when it came it almost took 
her off her feet. 


77 


MELISSA-ACROSS-THE-FENCE 
“BIM IS LOST.” 

Just after Victor finished printing that 
he laid his head down on his table, and his 
shoulders shook. It was with sobs Me- 
lissa knew, though she could not hear 
them. Miss Blake leaned over him and 
tried to comfort him. Victor at last 
raised his head, wiped his eyes, and looked 
over at Melissa. There was no need for 
her to print what she thought. Her little 
face showed it plainly enough. So she 
only wrote one word : 

“WHEN?” 

Victor replied: 

“THIS MORNING EARLY. 

SOME ONE LEFT THE FRONT GATE 
OPEN. HE SLIPPED OUT.” 

Melissa could not, for the life of her, 
think what to say to comfort him; so she 
asked : 

“WHICH WAY DID HE GO?” 

Again Victor answered : 

78 


SOMETHING HAPPENS 


“WE DON’T KNOW. NO ONE SAW 
HIM. WE ONLY MISSED HIM 
LATER.” 

Melissa was almost as heartbroken as 
the boy over the loss of their playmate, 
but she knew she must try to encourage 
Victor somehow; so she printed cheer- 
fully: 

“HE WILL SURELY BE FOUND.” 

But Victor was not to be comforted, and 
only replied: 

“WE THINK HE WAS STOLEN.” 

It was a dreary, dreary day that fol- 
lowed. The rain poured down heavily, 
and the windows had to be shut For a 
long while it was so dark that the children 
could not see the messages they tried to 
exchange. Toward late afternoon it 
cleared, and Melissa, hoping against de- 
spair, demanded : 

“IS HE BACK YET?” 

79 


MELISSA-ACROSS-THE-FENCE 

Victor only returned a disconsolate 
“NO,” 

and Miss Blake wheeled him away for the 
night. 

Next day things were no better. 
Though the servants of the big house had 
searched the whole neighborhood, no 
slightest trace of the lost dog had been dis- 
covered. Victor had no heart to play at 
even the beloved Indian and drooped like 
a wilted flower. Melissa spent the whole 
day at her window trying to comfort him, 
but it was n’t a particle of use. 

So a week passed. One day Victor in- 
formed Melissa that his father had written 
and told them to put an advertisement in 
the papers, offering a hundred dollars as 
reward for the return of the lost dog. 
The children felt sure this would speedily 
bring Bim back, and spent a day or two 
in high hope. But nobody appeared with 
Bim, and gloom settled down again upon 
them all. 


80 


SOMETHING HAPPENS 


Victor grew daily whiter and thinner, 
and Miss Blake grew daily more worried. 
From seeing the big, shiny automobile 
oftener in the next street, Melissa knew 
that the doctor's visits were also growing 
more frequent. 

The children never played games any 
more. At first they talked constantly 
about Bim and the prospect of his being 
found or returning to them of his own ac- 
cord. Then they gradually came to say 
less and less about him and finally did not 
mention him at all. Victor also seemed to 
sit less frequently at the window and for 
shorter periods of time. Once only he 
spoke about his own feelings and confided 
to Melissa: 

“I FEEL HORRID ALL OVERT 

But Victor was not the only one who 
was suffering. Little Melissa herself had 
come to realize that things were very bad 
indeed. This was not only because she too 
loved Bim and missed him, but for another 
81 


MELISSA-ACROSS-THE-FENCE 


reason besides. This she told no one but 
her mother. 

“It’s all my fault, Mother/' she said 
one night in the darkness, after they had 
gone to bed, and Mr. Letour's flute was 
filling the air with rather mournful music, 
for even he found it hard to be cheer- 
ful since Bim's disappearance. To her 
mother's astonished question Melissa went 
on: 

“Yes, it is all my fault. If I hadn't 
ever spoken about a dog to Victor, he 
would n't have thought of sending for him ; 
and then Bim would still be safe at Idle- 
hours, and Victor would be happy and get- 
ting well." Mrs. Mapes tried hard to per- 
suade her little daughter that she had 
nothing for which to blame herself, but not 
a thing she said could change Melissa. 
The child still insisted that it was her 
fault, and cried herself to sleep in conse- 
quence. 

And the next day when Melissa went to 
her window there was no Victor in his 
82 


SOMETHING HAPPENS 

usual chair, only Miss Blake chalking 
something on the blackboard, which Me- 
lissa read with a sinking heart : 

“VICTOR IS ILL IN BED. 

HE WANTED ME TO TELL YOU. 
TRY NOT TO WORRY.” 


83 


CHAPTER IX 

A RESOLVE AND A COMPACT 

I F the days before had been dreary, they 
were as nothing compared with what 
followed for Melissa. There could be no 
denying it — Victor was very ill. His 
heart had not been strong since his acci- 
dent, and now his sorrow for the loss of 
Bim had put him far, far back — in fact, 
made his recovery a thing on which no one 
could count. 

Melissa did not know all this, but she 
knew a little of it. Nearly every morn- 
ing Miss Blake would write on Victor’s 
blackboard, telling how he was, and Me- 
lissa would send him cheerful messages; 
but sometimes the boy was too ill and Miss 
Blake too busy to take time even for that, 
and then Melissa would be very miserable 
indeed. 


84 


A RESOLVE AND A COMPACT 


The days were very long and very lonely 
now that her playmate could no longer be 
at his window, and Melissa found time 
hanging very heavily on her hands. Mrs. 
Mapes tried hard to comfort her little 
daughter, but she was a very busy woman, 
who had to sew early and late and be out a 
great deal in order to keep their tiny home 
together. So there was little opportunity 
for her to do much in the way of con-' 
solation. 

In these sorry days Melissa had only 
one comfort. She would go down-stairs 
and, sitting disconsolately on the other end 
of his bench, hold long conversations with 
old Mr. Letour, and the subject of these 
talks was ever and always of Bim. To 
Mr. Letour also did Melissa confide how 
responsible she felt for the dog's loss, and, 
much to her amazement, he acknowledged 
that he, too, felt responsible. 

“Did I not tell the little chap to let that 
Bim run about the lawn much? Ah, that 
was all the trouble ! If that Bim had been 
85 


MELISSA-ACROSS-THE-FENCE 


more in the house he would not have had 
the chance to run off when nobody was 
looking. It is I — I that was one fool. 
Never should I have told the little 
chap that!” It comforted Melissa some- 
what to know that her weight of respon- 
sibility was shared by some one else. 

“But where do you think he can be, Mr. 
Letour ?” she would ask for the hundredth 
time. 

“That no man can say,” the old cobbler 
would reply; “but I do not think that Bim 
is dead. No, he is a most expensive dog. 
If he were dead, some one would know.” 

“But would n't you think some one 
would want to get the hundred dollars for 
bringing him back?” marveled Melissa. 
“We were so sure he would be brought 
back right away after that was put in the 
papers.” But Mr. Letour would shake his 
head. 

“Ah, no ! that Bim he is a very expen- 
sive dog, worth many hundred dollars. 
Some one knows that. They wait to see 
86 





Bim comes home 















. 































































* 









































A RESOLVE AND A COMPACT 


if more will be offered. If not, they sell 
him, later, when all is forgotten.” This 
was a discouraging thought. It always 
made Melissa feel quite hopeless when he 
said it. One day, however, he added a 
little grain of comfort: 

“Maybe that Bim is not with such a 
person. Perhaps he is found by one who 
does not know, who just keeps him because 
he is a pretty dog. Maybe that person 
reads not the papers. Who can tell?” 
It was this thought that gave Melissa a 
new idea and caused her to make the re- 
solve she now confided to the cobbler. 

“I can’t sit at that window up-stairs any 
longer,” she told him. “It makes me too 
sad, and I ’m no use to Victor any more. 
I ’m going to hunt for Bim myself. Yes, 
I am. I ’m going out to walk in the 
streets all day and look everywhere. Of 
course I can’t go very far. Mother 
would n’t let me. But he may not have 
gone very far from here. Who knows? 
At least it will be something for me to do. 
87 


MELISSA-ACROSS-THE-FENCE 


I can’t sit around and do nothing any 
longer, and it will help me to feel 1 ’m mak- 
ing up a little for having been the cause of 
his getting lost.” As she said this, Mr. 
Letour laid down the awl he was using. 

“I, too, will hunt,” he announced. “In 
the night when I have done playing the 
flute, I also will search for Bim. It is all 
we can do for that little Victor chap. I 
am old and I am very tired, but it will ease 
my mind also to search for that Bim.” 

Melissa’s mother did not at all like the 
plan when she heard it. She did not like 
the idea of her little daughter roaming the 
street, and she positively forbade her even 
to think of such a thing as entering any 
house. Only when she had made Melissa 
promise not to go farther than five blocks 
in any direction from home, nor to do more 
than walk along, speaking to no one, did 
she reluctantly consent. 

Melissa decided to begin the hunt the 
next day, but first she had a message to get 
to Victor. With her blackboard beside 
88 


A RESOLVE AND A COMPACT 


her she waited long and patiently till she 
saw Miss Blake come to the window to 
loop back a curtain, then she wrote : 

“WILL YOU PLEASE TELL VICTOR 

SOMETHING FOR ME?” 

Miss Blake read the message, then 
chalked on Victor’s board: 

“CERTAINLY, DEAR.” 

Quickly Melissa printed : 

“TELL HIM I AM GOING TO HUNT 
FOR BIM MYSELF. 

SO IS MR. LETOUR, TOO.” 

Miss Blake answered : 

“WAIT A MOMENT.” 

Melissa waited while she disappeared, 
well knowing that she had gone to tell the 
little patient. When Miss Blake returned 
she wrote: 

“VICTOR IS DELIGHTED. HE SAYS 
TO TELL YOU TO REMEMBER 
BIM’S BARK.” 

89 


MELISSA-ACROSS-THE-FENCE 


Melissa knew very well what was meant 
by that. Bim had the strangest bark in 
the world. It was like no other dog’s she 
had ever heard. He would begin on a 
sharp, high note, then three low ones like a 
growl, and this series he would repeat 
three times. But that does not describe it 
at all. One had to hear it to understand 
why it was so different. Once heard, one 
never forgot it. 

Melissa went to bed that night a little 
happier, a wee bit comforted; and when 
the strains of old Mr. Letour’s flute 
stopped at nine o’clock instead of the usual 
half-past, Melissa knew very well why. 


CHAPTER X 


AT THE BIG HOUSE 

M EANTIME what was going on in 
the great house where a little boy 
lay dangerously ill? The same day that 
Melissa came to her new resolve brought 
two people to the house on Pierpont Street. 
One was a big, burly, anxious-faced man 
who hurried at once to the room where the 
invalid lay. 

"How is Victor?” he whispered to Miss 
Blake, who admitted him. 

"Good day, Mr. Bonner. Victor is just 
about the same. He is sleeping now,” re- 
plied Miss Blake, laying a warning finger 
on her lips. The man came in on tiptoe 
and took a seat by the pretty brass bed 
where his son lay. There he sat a long, 
long time, gazing at the boy’s sleeping face 
9i 


MELISSA-ACROSS-THE-FENCE 


and saying nothing. After a while he 
turned to the nurse. 

“Is he no better ?” he asked anxiously. 
“What seems to be the main trouble ?” 

“He has been just about the same for a 
week,” answered Miss Blake. “It’s his 
heart; but the doctors say, too, that he is 
worrying about something.” 

“Do you know what it is?” demanded 
Mr. Bonner. 

“Oh, yes. There can be no doubt about 
it. He is grieving for Bim, the dog who 
was lost,” replied Miss Blake, surprised 
that the man did not appear to know it. 

“What? Bim not found yet?” cried 
Mr. Bonner. “Why, I supposed he was 
back long ago, especially after the reward 
I offered. You see, I ’ve been moving 
around from place to place in the South, 
and the mails haven’t reached me regu- 
larly. I did n’t realize that Victor was so 
ill until your telegram reached me, and 
then I hurried here at once. Why, Bim 
must be found if I have to hire private 
92 


AT THE BIG HOUSE 

detectives to do it. He certainly must be 
found.” 

“Yes, he ought to be found,” agreed the 
nurse. “Victor's health depends on it. 
The doctors say that unless this worry or 
sorrow is removed from his mind, he can 
never recover. And it must be done 
quickly, too, if it is to be in time.” Mr. 
Bonner got up and began to pace the floor, 
muttering to himself every few moments : 

“Yes, yes, we must get at it at once. I 
never realized how fond the child was of 
that dog.” Miss Blake watched him, and 
felt very sorry for him in his care and 
perplexity. Victor woke at last, and gave 
a cry of pleasure at the unexpected sight 
of his father. 

“Why, Dad, you here? I thought you 
were 'way down South. Oh Dad, what 
are we going to do about Bim?” 

“Never you fear, my boy,” replied Mr. 
Bonner, with a heartiness he was far from 
feeling. “Bim 's going to be found in 
short order. I 'll get a detective on his 
93 


MELISSA-ACROSS-THE-FENCE 


trail to-morrow morning. Oh, you ’ll 
have Bim back inside of three days.” 

“Melissa ’s hunting, too,” remarked 
Victor. 

“Who?” exclaimed his father. 

“Melissa- Across-the-Fence,” explained 
the boy. 

“Well, of all the names!” cried Mr. 
Bonner. “That ’s the queerest I ever 
heard. Who is the young lady, anyway ?” 

“She is n’t a young lady. She ’s a little 
girl who lives in the house back of our 
fence. I like her. We signal to each 
other, and — ” 

But at this moment there were sounds 
of footsteps on the stairs, the door opened, 
and a lady in beautiful, shimmery clothes 
entered. 

“Aunt Virginia !” cried the boy, starting 
up. “How in the world did you get 
here?” And he was clasped in her arms. 

“My steamer just got in, and I came 
straight here. How comes it my boy is n’t 
feeling quite so well?” she questioned 
94 


AT THE BIG HOUSE 

cheerfully. Then came more explanations 
about Bim, and a renewed description of 
how he was lost. Victor grew very much 
excited as he talked, till finally Miss Blake 
had to ask his company to leave him for 
a while, because she feared it was too 
much for him. 

That night Victor was very ill indeed, 
worse, in fact, than he had ever been be- 
fore. The doctors came out of his room 
shaking their heads, and told Miss Blake 
to allow no one to see him, not even his 
own father. 

Next day Mr. Bonner engaged a detec- 
tive, and explained to him all he knew 
about the disappearance of the dog. The 
detective shook his head and looked doubt- 
ful when he heard how long it had been 
since Bim was lost. He said that it would 
be difficult to 'trace him now, because, be- 
ing so valuable a dog, whoever found him 
had probably taken him far away from the 
city, or sold him to some one who had car- 
ried him off, perhaps even as far as Eu- 
95 


MELISSA-ACROSS-THE-FENCE 


rope. For, declared the detective, if Bim 
were near by, and had ever gotten loose 
since, he would certainly have come back 
of his own accord. However, he would 
begin the search at once, and hope for the 
best; and with this cold comfort Mr. Bon- 
ner had to be content. 

Three days passed, and nothing hap- 
pened. The detective had not found the 
slightest trace of the lost dog. If the 
earth had opened and swallowed Bim, he 
could not have disappeared more com- 
pletely. A larger reward was advertised 
in all the papers for his return or even for 
reliable news about him, a step that had a 
very strange result. 

The reward was so large that it at- 
tracted a good deal of attention. Many 
dogs began to arrive at the house, all es- 
corted by people in hopes of reaping the 
premised dollars. It was the most ex- 
traordinary collection of dogs — big dogs, 
little dogs, short dogs, long dogs, lean 
dogs, fat dogs, smooth dogs, woolly dogs, 
96 


AT THE BIG HOUSE 


clean dogs, dirty dogs, every kind of dog 
except one that resembled Bim. Of this 
variety there was not so much as one. It 
took nearly all the buttoned serving-man’s 
time to open the door, give one look at the 
latest arrival, and dismiss him. 

And all the while the little boy lay in 
his darkened room in a heavy sleep or stu- 
por, out of which he woke only to murmur 
occasionally, “Has Bim come yet?” and 
then sink back with shut eyes, while the 
fever in his brain grew higher and higher. 

His desperate father strode back and 
forth outside his door, or rushed down- 
stairs every time the bell rang, hoping 
against hope that Bim had come, or that 
the detective had news of him. In an- 
other room sat the boy’s Aunt Virginia, 
doing little else but answer the constantly 
ringing telephone. Most of these in- 
quiries were from people who wanted a 
description of Bim, or thought they had 
seen him somewhere or had heard of some 
one who had. 


97 


MELISSA-ACROSS-THE-FENCE 


It was a busy, anxious, sorrowful 
household, where none was allowed to see 
the little invalid save the doctors and Miss 
Blake, who would trust no hands but her 
own to lay the cool bandages on the hot, 
feverish head. 


98 


CHAPTER XI 


THE SEARCH MELISSA MADE 

M ELISSA turned into a hot, ill- 
smelling street where the afternoon 
sun blazed down on both sides of the way. 
She had hoped that at least one side would 
be shady, but since neither was, she heaved 
a little sigh and began to pick her way 
along the crowded sidewalk, turning her 
head anxiously from side to side at every 
step. 

Melissa had been searching for Bim ex- 
actly nine days. There was not a street 
within the radius of five blocks from her 
own home over which she had not traveled 
at least twice, and some oftener. The 
streets to the west and south were lined 
with pretty well-kept houses or large man- 
sions like Victor’s home, but those to the 
99 


MELISSA-ACROSS-THE-FENCE 


north and east were mainly filled with 
tenements and dirty frame-houses, occu- 
pied by very poor and equally dirty for- 
eigners. 

Along the nicer streets Melissa felt it 
was useless to search any more. In these 
houses it was unlikely that Bim could be, 
so she turned her attention now to the 
poorer streets, for there she thought it 
more possible that the dog might be de- 
tained. 

It was a very discouraging search, and 
a very discouraged, hot, and tired little 
girl who was making it. What chance, 
after all, had she to find a lost dog in all 
this muddle of dirty streets and dirtier 
houses, none of which she would have 
dared to enter even had she been allowed ? 
In any one of the tiny backyards Bim 
might be chained, or he might be kept a 
prisoner in any one of the ill-smelling 
rooms. And how was she ever to know? 

She had questioned many children about 
Bim, but they either answered her vaguely 
ioo 


THE SEARCH MELISSA MADE 


or were rude to her ; so she had given up 
that method. Many dogs she had seen 
and others she had heard barking, but 
there was no mistaking them for Bim. 

On this particular afternoon Melissa 
was tempted more strongly than usual to 
give it all up. She was thirsty, she was 
tired, the hot pavements fairly blistered 
her feet, and the odors of the streets were 
most unpleasant. She wanted — oh, how 
she wanted ! — to go home and get a drink 
of milk and sit by the cool window, look- 
ing over the lawn. But even while she 
thought of this her mind drew for her a 
picture of the feverish boy tossing on the 
bed in his darkened room, his life hanging 
by scarcely more than a thread, which 
might snap at any moment. With that 
picture before her she could not go back, 
not just yet. 

She wandered another block, staring 
into basement windows, dark doorways, 
and unsavory areas. From every house 
came the loud voices of people talking, 

IOI 


MELISSA- ACROSS-THE-FENCE 


laughing, or quarreling. And innumer- 
able children swarmed on the sidewalks, 
playing noisy games. Suddenly into the 
street there turned a big hurdy-gurdy, 
dragged by a dark man who looked like an 
Italian, and accompanied by a woman with 
a red handkerchief about her head and a 
tambourine in her hand. 

They halted in front of a little grocery 
store. The man grinding the organ 
struck up a lively tune, and the woman 
thumped her tambourine or held it up for 
pennies. Instantly a crowd of children 
gathered, and some began to dance gaily 
on the hot sidewalk. So prettily indeed 
did they trip about that Melissa stopped 
a moment to watch them. The organ 
changed to an even livelier tune, and the 
dancing went on harder than ever. 

But suddenly Melissa’s ear caught a 
sound not heard by the others, and her 
heart gave a great thump. Then she 
pushed her way out of the crowd and 
listened harder than ever. Yes, there it 


102 


THE SEARCH MELISSA MADE 


was again. She could not be mistaken — 
the bark of a dog, protesting at the music, 
which dogs seldom, if ever, like. But 
it was not an ordinary bark. Melissa 
strained her ears to catch it again, while 
the rollicking organ tried hard to drown 
every sound save its own. 

The third time it came Melissa knew she 
was not mistaken. She almost shouted 
aloud in her joy. It was Bim ! It could 
be no other, that strange bark beginning 
on a high note and continuing in a series 
of low growls. It was Bim. She was 
certain. And he must be somewhere 
near. But where ? The barking sounded 
muffled and came from a little distance. 
The nearest that Melissa could place it 
was a cellar somewhere under the dirty 
little grocery store. 

But the cellar door was shut and locked. 
Melissa could not have entered it had she 
tried, nor did she dare even to enter the 
store to inquire about it. She stood un- 
certain while the hurdy-gurdy moved 
103 


MELISSA-ACROSS-THE-FENCE 


away and the children after it. There 
was no more barking, and all was quiet 
again. Melissa began almost to doubt 
whether she was right. Had it been 
Bim? Did the sound come from that cel- 
lar ? She longed to put her head down to 
the crack in the slanting door and call 
softly, “Bim ! Bim !” and see if there would 
be an answering bark; but even this, she 
thought, would not be safe. Some one 
might see her do it and suspect something. 

All at once she was struck by a happy 
idea. She would go home as fast as she 
could and consult Mr. Letour. He would 
surely be able to find a way out of the diffi- 
culty. But before she turned away she 
looked to see the number of the house, and 
fixed it firmly in her memory. 

Mr. Letour was amazed to behold an 
excited Melissa rushing into his shop, her 
eyes wide, her face streaming with per- 
spiration, her breath coming in great 
gasps; but when she had panted out her 
story, he became quite as excited as she. 

104 


THE SEARCH MELISSA MADE 


“Yes, yes,” he cried, dashing off his 
iron-rimmed spectacles and striding up 
and down the shop, “you have done well, 
little lady ! You are good as one detective. 
You are better than old Letour, who paces 
the streets every night and sees no farther 
than his nose. Yes, you find that Bim. 
Of that I am sure. But how comes he in 
that vile cellar, that beautiful Bim, worth 
so many hundred dollars? We will get 
him out of that. Oh, yes, we will get him 
out and send him back to that Victor boy.” 

“But what are you going to do?” de- 
manded Melissa, impatiently, “and when 
are you going? Can’t you start right 
away and bring him back this afternoon? 
We can’t get him to Victor too soon.” 

“No, no, one must not be too quick. 
Besides, I have three pairs of shoes that 
must be done before six o’clock. I have 
promised it. If that Bim is chained up 
in a cellar, there he will remain, at least 
till to-night. And then I must go cau- 
tiously. I must be very sure it is that 
105 


MELISSA-ACROSS-THE-FENCE 


Bim. I cannot tramp into a house and 
command them to give me that dog. No, 
surely. But be comforted, little Melissa. 
To-night I will surely find out if it is that 
Bim; and then we shall see. I play not 
on the flute to-night. But do not go to 
bed, either you or madame your mother, 
till I return with news.” 

It was quite needless to give Melissa 
that last bit of advice, or her mother either. 
They were both so excited that they could 
scarcely eat a mouthful of supper, and 
the thought of sleep was impossible. 
After dark they watched from their front 
window, and saw Mr. Letour lock up and 
leave his little shop, waving hopefully to 
them as he trudged away down the street. 
After that they went to the back window, 
where they sat looking out at the big house 
faintly visible in the darkness. The foun- 
tain tinkled and splashed. A cool breeze 
came to them across the lawn, sweet with 
the scent of grass which had that day been 
cut. Most of the windows of the house 
106 




THE SEARCH MELISSA MADE 


were lighted, and the shadow of moving 
figures could sometimes be seen across 
them. In Victor's window there was only 
a faint light, and on this window Melissa 
and her mother riveted their eyes while 
they talked together in whispers. Once 
in a while Mrs. Mapes wondered to think 
how she had been drawn into this strange 
affair, and how deeply she had become ab- 
sorbed in it. And the hours dragged 
slowly by. 

It was a long, long time before Mr. Le- 
tour returned, so long that Melissa could 
have cried with impatience at the delay. 
What could be the matter ? Had it turned 
out not to be Bim, after all? Had the 
dog, perhaps, been taken away before he 
got there? Or had Mr. Letour failed to 
make the people give him up, even though 
it was Bim? 

Again and again she put these questions 
to her mother, again and again they talked 
each separate one over and over, and it 
was nearly eleven o'clock when they heard 
107 


MELISSA-ACROSS-THE-FENCE 


the door open down-stairs and a step 
sounding in the hall. 

Melissa rushed to their own door, an 
eager question on her lips, only to be al- 
most knocked off her feet by a hurrying 
form that came bounding up the stairs and 
into the room. Before her mother had 
even a chance to light the gas, Melissa was 
rolling on the floor, her arms around a 
fluffy body, and crooning : 

“O, Bim! Bim! Bim! Bim!” 

But it was an amazing Bim that was 
revealed to them when the gas was lit. 
He was dirty with the mud of the streets 
and the coal-dust of the cellar, this beauti- 
ful Bim who used to receive a bath and a 
combing every single day. Moreover, he 
was a thin and hungry-looking Bim, he 
for whom the best had never been too 
good ! He had no collar, only a dirty rope 
twisted about his neck. Altogether he 
looked like a starved tramp dog, but even 
this could not deceive any one who had 
ever seen the former lordly Bim. 

108 


THE SEARCH MELISSA MADE 


After him up the stairs stumped Mr. Le- 
tour, so pleased and proud and happy that 
he could do little else but chuckle over the 
returned wanderer. At last the excite- 
ment was sufficiently calmed down for him 
to tell his story. 

With his hand on Bim’s head, he told 
them how he had found the place and lin- 
gered about nearly two hours before he 
heard so much as a single sound from the 
cellar. At last some one had begun play- 
ing a piano, and Bim had given one whin- 
ing bark. Then Mr. Letour was sure 
that he was right. Next he scraped the 
acquaintance of two little Italian boys 
sitting outside the grocery shop, and grad- 
ually lured them into telling how they had 
found a dog sometime before and had 
taken him home for a pet. But, they said, 
he was so ugly and morose that they had 
to keep him chained in the cellar all the 
time; also he ate a great deal, and their 
father did not like him, and they were 
rather tired of him themselves. 

109 


MELISSA-ACROSS-THE-FENCE 


Then Mr. Letour, trying hard to conceal 
his eagerness, remarked that he had been 
wanting a dog for some time himself, and 
offered to buy this one for a dollar. The 
offer was speedily accepted, Bim was led 
up from the cellar on a rope, and Mr. Le- 
tour returned in triumph with the long lost 
Chow. All this he told them while Bim 
lapped up an entire quart bottle of milk 
and ate three lamb chops for which they 
had had no appetite at supper.. 

“And now let ’s take him right around 
to Victor,” cried Melissa, hopping about in 
a ferment of excitement. 

“Yes, we must n’t even wait till morn- 
ing,” agreed her mother, “if the boy is so 
low.” And so, although it was nearly 
midnight, the three went round to Pier- 
pont Street, Mr. Letour leading Bim by 
the rope. 

It was Mr. Bonner himself who opened 
the door at their ring, and a very much as- 
tonished man he was at the strange group. 
But when he saw Bim, he uttered a cry of 
no 


THE SEARCH MELISSA MADE 


delight, sunk down on his knees, put his 
arms about the dog’s neck, and actually 
hugged him. Then he led them all inside 
and made them tell the wonderful story. 

“We hope the return of Bim will do 
your son a great deal of good,” said Mrs. 
Mapes, who had spoken for them all. Mr. 
Bonner half turned away. 

“I pray God that it will,” he said husk- 
ily, “but it may be too late, after all. The 
doctors have given him up, and we do not 
know whether he will live through the 
night. He is unconscious, but if he should 
come to himself, we will show him the dog 
and see what that will do. And whether 
he lives or not, I shall never forget what 
you good people have done for my son.” 

So leaving Bim to be restored to his 
little master, the three went away into the 
night. 


hi 


CHAPTER XII 

WHEN BIM RETURNED 

I T was two days later, about four in the 
afternoon. Melissa sat in her win- 
dow, her hands clenched, her eyes fastened 
on the big house opposite in a fever of ex- 
pectation. Near her sat her mother sew- 
ing steadily, yet at intervals glancing up 
with anxious eyes at the window across 
the lawn. 

Out on the lawn lay Bim, guarded by 
the serving-man in buttons. He was a 
very clean dog now, and his fluffy coat 
fairly gleamed from its recent brushing 
and combing, but he was still thin, and had 
no such energy to race about the fountain 
as had once been his. He seemed to pre- 
fer to roll on the lawn and bask in the sun 
lazily. 


112 


WHEN BIM RETURNED 

“Oh! Mother/' sighed Melissa for the 
twentieth time at least, “do you think we 
shall hear good news to-day? Do you 
think Victor will be better?" 

“Dear, I hope so with all my heart," 
answered Mrs. Mapes, “but we must wait 
and be patient. I think it is a good sign 
that he is still alive." 

There had been little change in the boy's 
condition since the memorable night of 
Bim's return. On that night, so Miss 
Blake had told them by blackboard next 
day, Victor came to himself for a few mo- 
ments, and in that time, very cautiously, 
lest the surprise should be too much for 
him, they told that Bim had been found 
and was in the house, but they did not dare 
let him see the dog. Victor had seemed 
to understand the good news, but had 
straightway gone off into a stupor again, 
from which he had not since roused. The 
doctors thought, however, that there 
might be hope for him if he really under- 
stood that his pet was found ; but until he 
n 3 


MELISSA-ACROSS-THE-FENCE 


returned to consciousness again they could 
not definitely tell. So it was that Melissa 
was watching, with every sense intent, for 
the latest news of him. 

Presently, as she watched, she saw a 
maid come to the door and beckon the but- 
toned serving-man. He in his turn called 
to Bim, who rose lazily, and all three dis- 
appeared into the house. After that a 
long, long while seemed to pass, and noth- 
ing happened. 

Suddenly, however, Miss Blake ap- 
peared at the bay-window and began to 
chalk something on the blackboard. Me- 
lissa clutched at the window-sill in the in- 
tensity of her suspense. Then she cried: 

“Oh Mother! Look! Look!” and to- 
gether they read this message : 

“VICTOR IS BETTER.” 

Melissa clapped her hands in her joy and 
excitement. Miss Blake went on: 

“WE THINK HE IS GOING TO GET 
WELL.” 

114 


WHEN BIM RETURNED 

Then, to their great astonishment, she con- 
tinued : 

“I WILL COME AND SEE YOU LATER 
THIS AFTERNOON.” 

Miss Blake came, as she had promised, 
that afternoon. Melissa hardly recog- 
nized her at first, for she did not wear her 
white uniform and cap, but was arrayed 
in a dainty pink dress, with a straw hat 
and parasol to match, and she looked pret- 
tier than ever. 

She told them how Victor had come to 
himself at about four o’clock that after- 
noon; how his fever seemed almost gone, 
and his mind quite clear, except that he 
did not remember anything of the night 
Bim had returned, and only asked if any- 
thing had happened. Then she had 
broken the news to him again, very, very 
cautiously, and he had immediately asked 
to see the dog. She said that when Bim 
was brought in he jumped right up on the 
bed, and Victor put both arms about him 
ii5 


MELISSA-ACROSS-THE-FENCE 


and buried his face in the fluffy fur, too 
happy for even a single word. After that 
the doctor had taken just one look at the 
boy and said, “He will recover.” 

But Miss Blake had something else to 
say to Melissa .and her mother. She 
handed Mrs. Mapes an envelope presently 
and remarked: 

“Mr. Bonner wished me to give this to 
you for him.” Noticing Mrs. Mapes’s 
surprised glance, she continued: 

“In it there are two checks, each for two 
hundred and fifty dollars. That is the 
amount of the reward offered for the re- 
turn of Bim. One check is for Melissa, 
the other for Mr. Letour. They both had 
a part in finding and bringing back the 
dog. But Mr. Bonner says that nothing 
can ever repay the debt of gratitude he 
owes you all for saving the life of his son.” 

It was on a beautiful morning, about 
two weeks later, that Victor sat up for the 
first time in the bay-window, dressed, and 
116 


WHEN BIM RETURNED 


with the blackboard before him. Bim lay 
at his feet, looking up at him every few 
moments with adoring eyes. At her own 
window sat Melissa, also with blackboard 
and chalk ready. As soon as Victor ap- 
peared, she wrote : 

“IT’S WONDERFUL, ISN’T IT? 

GETTING WELL, I MEAN.” 

Victor replied in rather shaky letters, 
for his hand still shook from weakness : 

“YOU BET IT IS.” 


Then: 

“IT WAS GREAT OF YOU TO FIND BIM. 
I CAN NEVER THANK YOU AND MR. 
LETOUR ENOUGH.” 

Melissa modestly returned : 

“I WOULDN’T HAVE KNOWN WHERE 
HE WAS IF IT HADN’T BEEN FOR 
HIS BARK.” 

But Victor had something else on his 
mind, and announced : 

ii 7 


MELISSA-ACROSS-THE-FENCE 


“WE ARE GOING TO IDLEHOURS NEXT 
WEEK.” 

At this Melissa’s face fell, and her heart 
went down in her boots. She tried to 
seem cheerful about it and replied: 

“THAT WILL BE FINE FOR YOU,” 

but she could not help adding : 

“I SHALL MISS YOU VERY MUCH.” 

To her great astonishment he answered : 
“NO, YOU WONT.” 

Before she could deny it he added : 
“BECAUSE YOU ARE COMING, TOO.” 

Melissa almost fell out of the window 
in her amazement as she read this, and 
Victor watched her, smiling broadly; but 
all she could think of replying was : 

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN?” 

His only answer read : 


ASK YOUR MOTHER.” 
118 


WHEN BIM RETURNED 


She turned to her mother with an aston- 
ished question, but Mrs. Mapes smilingly 
replied : 

“Yes, dear, it is all true. Victor's Aunt 
Virginia has decided to go to Idlehours 
and make her home there for a while in 
order to watch over the boy. She sent 
word to me the other day, saying that she 
would always have a great deal of sewing 
to be done, and asking me if I would be 
willing to come there and do it for her. 
She thinks, too, that it will be nice for you, 
and splendid for Victor to have a play- 
mate, because he is often a little lonely 
there. The reason I have not told you 
before is that Victor wanted to be the first 
to tell you himself." This news was so 
bewildering to Melissa that she could do 
nothing else but go to the window and clap 
her hands to show her happiness. The 
idea was almost too wonderful. But 
suddenly a thought came to her, and she 
wrote : 


MELISSA-ACROSS-THE-FENCE 


“I AM ONLY SORRY FOR ONE THING. 

POOR MR. LETOUR WILL BE VERY 
LONELY.” 

To this Victor instantly responded: 

‘‘NO HE WONT. 

ASK YOUR MOTHER.” 

And again Mrs. Mapes explained that 
Mr. Bonner had asked Mr. Letour to go to 
Idlehours and take care' of his valuable 
horses and dogs, because the old man knew 
a great deal about them. So Mr. Letour 
was very happy, too, and would have much 
more time to play on his flute. 

Altogether it was all glorious news for 
Melissa, and she was so surprised and so 
happy that for a long while she could 
hardly talk about it sensibly. All the rest 
of the morning she and Victor exchanged 
ideas about it on their blackboards, and 
late in the afternoon, when he sat up again 
for a while, they were still discussing it 
frantically. At last, when Miss Blake 
came to put Victor back to bed, he wrote : 

120 


MELISSA-ACROSS-THE-FENCE 


“WE WONT HAVE TO USE THESE AT 
IDLEHOURS.” 


and then : 

“BUT WE ’LL PLAY INDIANS ALL DAY 
LONG.” 

Melissa joyfully agreed, and ended: 

“GOOD NIGHT, BIG CHIEF EAGLE- 
FEATHER.” 

And Victor gave her a military salute 
and answered : 

“GOOD NIGHT, MELISSA-ACROSS-THE- 
FENCE.” 


THE END 


121 
















I 



